Necticut



(No Model.) I

. H. G. KELSEY "81; H. A'.-HARTSHORN.

MECHANISM FOR FORMING BUGKLE- TOINGUES. No. 372,152. Patgnted Oct. 25, 1887.

' NITED STATES PATENT. Critics.

HO RATIO G. KELSEY AND HENRY A. HARTSHORN, OF. WEST HAVEN, CON-NECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN BUCKLE AND CARTRIDGE COMPANY, OFSAME PLACE.

MECHANISM FOR FORMING BUCKLE-TONGUES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,152, dated October25, 1827.

Application filed July 5, 1887. Serial No. 243,339. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HORATIO G. KELsnY and HENRY A. HARTSHORN, of WestHaven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, haveinvented a new Improvementin the Manufacture of Buckles; and we dohereby declare the following, when taken in connec tion withaccompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to bea full,

to clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawingsconstitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a top or plan view of the active portions of the machine; Fig.2, a horizontal I 5 section through the side benders and former in theplane of the tongue portion of the buckle on the former; Fig. 3, thetongue complete as formed by the machine; Fig. 4, the workingface of theside benders; Fig. 5, the workingface of the former.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of buckles forwearing-apparel in which the buckle is composed of two partsa frame anda tongue portioneach part made from wire, the tongue portion bent toform the loop, and the ends of the frame bent around the inner side ofthe loop to form the hinge, and such as commonly known as the Hartshornbuckle, and such as patented to Hartsgo'horn July 10, 1855,-No. 13,218.

In this class of buckles it is necessary that the engaging ends of thetongue shall be brought to a sharp point, or nearly. so. Heretofore thishas been done in some cases by grinding, in othercases by rotatinghammers, and in other cases by squeezing the point ends between dies,which throw the surpl us metal onopposite sides of the point end in theform of fins. Then the fins are cut 0d and the point 40 finished bytumbling or otherwise; but in either case the operation addsconsiderably to the cost of manufacture, which it is the object of ourinvention to avoid. The tongue portion of the buckle is representedinFig. 3.

This part of the buckle is made from wire bent into the required shapeto form the two tongues .a a on one side of the loop A. To bend theblank, a former, B, (see Fig. 1,)

formed point upon the end of the wire, and as stands vertical, andwhichin transverse section correspondsin shape to the inside of thetongue part of the buckle.

Crepresents thepreliminarybender,adapted to reciprocate toward and fromthe former, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 1.. On the face of thebender a recess is formed corresponding, substantially, to the outsideof one half the loop portion of'the buckle. The wire is fed in betweenthe former and the preliminary bender C, as indicated in Fig. 1, and cutoff to the proper length. Then the bender C advances toward the formerand turns the two ends onto the former, bringing the blank into U shape,as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 1. Then side benders advance andcomplete the loop, leaving the tongues projecting at right angles to theloop. 1

Instead of cutting off blanks from the wire at right angles, I make adiagonal cut, as indicated at b, Fig. 1. This leaves a partiallythe Wireadvances the required distance another like diagonal cut is made,severing the blank from the body of the wire and leaving it between thebender and former, as seen in Fig. Theinclination of the two ends of theblank are opposite each other because of the diagonal out made,.asbefore described. The blank thus introduced is first bent by thepreliminary bender C, as before described and as seen in Fig. 1.

D D represent two side benders, the face of which corresponds to theside of the former, and so that as the two advance upon opposite sidesof the former they force the end portions inward and bring the ends ofthe blank parallel with each other and at right angles to the loop,completely forming the loop, as seen in Fig. 2. The faces of the twobending-dies D D have a cavity formed therein, as seen in Fig. 4, thecavity running to a sharp point corresponding in position to the pointend of the blank. The former also has a corresponding recess upon itsside, as seen in Fig. 5. As the two side benders,D D,advance, the cavitytherein is brought onto the respective ends of 5 the wire, and becauseof the point shape they bring the partiallyformed point of the ends intoa completely-shaped point, as indicated in- Figs. 2 and 3.

Because of the diagonal cut made, as before described, in severing theblank from the body of the wire, there is no more metal left upon thepoint end of the blank than is required for its propershaping, theobliquity of the out be in g made with due regard to the metal requiredfor so completely forming the point.

By this method of forming the point the operations hitherto required forthis purpose-- such as before describedare avoided, the points beingformed complete in the operation of bending-that is to say, in bendingthe tongue portion of the buckle precisely the same action of the diesis required as that which we have described; but by forming the pointcavities in the respective bcnders the point is produced withoutadditional operations over that which is necessarily required in bendingthe blank to shape. Alter the blank has been thus completed itis forcedfrom the former by the stripper in the usual manner.

Ve have not shown the machine complete, as the mechanism for operatingthe respective slides which carry the preliminary bending-die and theside benders, as well as the stripper, are common and well known and donot require illustration, it only being necessary to say that areciprocating movement is imparted to the preliminary die and to theside benders toward the former, such movementbeing timed for theintroduction or feed of the wire,which is also produced in the usualmanner.

The diagonal cut is produced by cutters the cutting-edge of which isoblique to the line of the wire, as indicated at E, Fig. 1, whichrepresents one of the cutters, the cutters being substantially thecutters employed in machines for this purpose, excepting in the diagonalposition.

\Ve claim- The herein-described improvement in machines formanufiacturing buckle-tongues, substantially such as described,consisting in the combination of the stationary former B, its shapecorresponding to the interior of the tongue part of the buckle, a cutterthe cuttingedge of which is oblique to the line of wire fed to themachine and whereby obliquely-cut points are formed on the blank, thereciproeating preliminary bender O, and the reciprocating side benders,DD, the said side bender-s having cavities in their face terminating inpoint shape for the point end of the blank, substantially as described.

HORATIO G. KELSEY. HENRY A. HARTSHORN.

\Vitnesses:

Farmers N. STERNS, \VILLIAM B. PLACE.

